Falls Church News-Press 12-13-2018 by Falls Church News-Press

December 13 — 19, 2018

Fa lls Chur c h, V i r g i ni a • ww w. fc np. c om • Fr ee

Fou n d e d 1991 • Vol. XXVIII No. 43

Falls Church • Tysons Corner • Merrifield • McLean • North Arlington • Bailey’s Crossroads

Inside This Week City Reacts To Planned Bike Trail Changes Changes to the City of Falls Church section of the Washington & Old Dominion trail are coming by late 2020 and local cyclists and pedestrians see pros and cons in the upcoming improvements. See page 4

Northside Social Adds New Parking

After six months with only a lone accessible parking space, Northside Social announced it has acquired 10 new general parking spots — the first for the popular restaurant — from Park Towers Condominiums.

New F.C. Budget Guidance Calls For No Tax Rate Hike for FY2020 City Council Vote Kicks Off New Budget Cycle

by Nicholas F. Benton

Falls Church News-Press

But as Noonan pointed out Tuesday, added School system costs estimated at $300,000 for health insurance premium increases, a costof-living increase of one percent for 500 employees at $400,000, a step salary increase at $800,000 and increased substitute teacher compensation at $50,000 adds up to $1,550,000, or more than a million dollars above what the Council “guidance” appears to propose.

Following on last week’s joint Falls Church City Council and School Board work session to mull early projections for the coming fiscal year budget, the Council met this Monday and formally adopted its “guidance” for the coming annual budget cycle. Not surprisingly, it called for no tax rate increase, to be achieved by constraining new spending to the two percent revenue growth that is projected. As reported earlier, the tax rate will not be impacted going forward by the cost of constructing a new high school and renovating City Hall and the library. The heavy yields anticipated from the dense economic development of 10.3 acres at the Haycock and W. Broad intersection (location of the current George Mason High School) is the reason for that. But holding the operating budgets of the school and City to a low growth projected for revenues in the Fiscal Year 2020 time frame will present the biggest challenge for the school system, as Superintendent Peter Noonan spelled out to the School Board this Tuesday night (see separate story). The two-percent growth projection comes as three major new mixed-use projects moving forward in the City — the West End, Founders Row and Broad at Washington projects — will not yet be generating significant revenue.

Continued on Page 5

Continued on Page 30

See page 5

The Holiday Season's Hottest New Toys

With Christmas fast approaching and some local Santa Clauses having yet to leap into action, the News-Press is providing a crash course in this season’s hot items for the slackers out there. See page 17

Mason Girls Earn 1st Win of Season

Victory was tasted at last by George Mason High School’s girls basketball team, when it ended its season-long skid by defeating John Paul the Great Catholic High School Tuesday. See Sports, page 20

MEMBERS OF THE FALLS CHURCH School Board are shown with Superintendent Peter Noonan (far right) at their meeting Tuesday to mull new City Council budget "guidance." (Photo: News-Press)

Noonan to F.C. School Board: Our Costs Outstrip 'Guidance' by Nicholas F. Benton

Falls Church News-Press

Index

Editorial................ 6 Letters..............6, 8 News & Notes.12–13 Comment...... 14–15 Business News.. 19 Sports................ 20

Calendar...... 26–27 Classified Ads.... 28 Comics, Sudoku & Crossword......... 29 Critter Corner..... 30

Upon learning of the official budget guidance for the coming fiscal year approved by the Falls Church City Council Monday night, Falls Church City Public Schools Superintendent Peter Noonan counseled the School Board Tuesday night that minimal school needs for the coming year are already in excess of that guidance number.

The Council voted 6-0 to call for constraining the new budget to the anticipated organic revenue growth expected at two percent, or an added $1.7 million. With a big chunk of that modest increase going to WMATA ($400,000), health insurance cost hikes ($200,000) and City employee compensation ($200,000) having to split the remainder between the City operating and School budgets would leave only $450,000 in other new expenses for each.

PAGE 2 | DECEMBER 13 - 19, 2018

FALLS CHURCH NEWS-PRESS | FCNP.COM

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PAGE 4 | DECEMBER 13 - 19, 2018

FALLS CHURCH NEWS-PRESS | FCNP.COM

City Reacts to News of Bike Trail Improvements

BY MATT DELANEY

FALLS CHURCH NEWS-PRESS

Changes to the City of Falls Church section of the Washington & Old Dominion trail are coming by late 2020 and local cyclists and pedestrians alike favor the safety improvements, but are split when it comes to the total overhaul the City’s portion of the trail is expected to receive. A $3.2 million award from the Northern Virginia Transportation Authority will allow the City to more than double the width of its segment of W&OD trail, increasing its current 10-foot width to a total of 21-feet with an 11-foot wide bike trail and an eight-foot wide pedestrian path separated by a two-foot wide median. The current wooden bridge over Four Mile Run will be replaced, while the funding will also be used to make a 20-foot wide bridge that arches over Lee Highway (Route 29) in order to mitigate one of the more hazardous crossings for both bikers and pedestrians. Furthermore, new

ramps connecting the trail to streets as well as more lighting will be added to the City’s section of the trail. “The Falls Church section of the W&OD is one of the most heavily trafficked portions of the trail. On weekends, with the large amount of users the trail can be quite dangerous for bicyclists and pedestrians alike — especially for kids using the trail,” Zach Gasper, an everyday bike commuter on the trail and director of design at Falls Church’s GreenSpur, Inc., said. “Separating the trail into distinct uses will greatly improve the safety and usability of the trail. The larger plan to build a bridge over Lee Highway will probably be the most significant improvement.” Owner and manager of Bikenetic, Jan Feuchtner, echoed Gasper’s praise for the trail improvements, particularly the bridge over Lee Highway, with its enhanced safety outweighing its potential to be an eyesore. Feuchtner admits he typically uses the trail during off-hours (unlike Gasper, who rides it

during peak commuting hours), but says he’s had enough close encounters with cyclists and runners on the trail, and heard of run-ins from commuters who frequent his store, to believe dedicated lanes will help reduce the possibility of collisions. He notes that activity on the W&OD has grown tremendously in recent years in terms of cyclists and commuters, and segregating the modes of transportation on the trail could only help in terms of diluting the congestion. Those who are less enthusiastic about the proposed improvements can’t wrap their head around the practicality of changing just the City’s 1.2-mile section of the trail. “City of Falls Church residents don’t just walk or bike that one small portion of the trail and then turn around and go home,” ProBikeFC owner, Nick Clark, said. “It just doesn’t make sense to make those kinds of changes to a small section of a [45-mile] trail.” Clark is adamantly impartial on what happens to the trail since, as a professional cyclist, the public

thoroughfare is too casual for him to want to ride on it regularly. That’s why he thinks using the money to pay for more patrols to monitor cyclists using the trail for unnecessarily intensive purposes could serve the community better than making infrastructure changes. Though Clark does believe that some kind of committee formed between the different municipalities the trail spans could serve as a benefit to how the W&OD trail is managed. For example, when Clark lived in Greenville, S.C., the Swamp Rabbit trail crossed over multiple counties and cities. City officials got together with locals to form a committee with the ultimate goal of making the trail safer, while saving some money in the process. Larry Colmella, who penned a Letter to the Editor in the NewsPress last week, has used the trail less in retirement, but wondered why the money being spent on the trail improvements couldn’t go toward another local peccadillo in correcting the “sidewalks to nowhere.” More so, he fears the

trail will lose some of its natureoriented allure. “I’m afraid if they widen it, they might chop down a few more trees, [add] more concrete and put a little boulevard in between. Then it’s not as quaint of a bike path,” Culmella said. Dave Myles, a pedestrian who mainly uses to the trail to get to and from the Metro, also felt the money could be better spent elsewhere. But he didn’t see any problems with adding more lighting for trail goers, which, he imagined, would be better received by female users who may feel uncomfortable in some of the darker, forested parts of the W&OD trail. All who spoke with the NewsPress acknowledged there will likely be some level of confusion to the trail’s users at the entrance and exit of Falls Church’s modified section. As Feuchtner mentioned, however, he hopes that the success of the split lanes will cause the changes to spread east and west of the City, making the improvements uniform rather than unique.

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School Board Continued from Page 1

Noonan said he will have a more comprehensive review, a “working document” of these issues, to present to the School Board at its next meeting on Tuesday. It will presumably include the impact of the anticipated 54 new students added to the system next fall. Step increases, he indicated Monday, represent what are “implied contracts” with employees, who constitute 86 percent of the schools’ budget. Last year saw no step increase for the school employees. Annual cost-of-living and step increases are the “Holy Grail” for employees in the system, he said. In his “working document” due next Tuesday, Noonan suggested that he will lay out at least three options, or tiers, to the school board to be the basis for their discussion. “I am rather optimistic on some respects,” Noonan said, offering little explanation except that he said he met with City Manager Wyatt Shields during the day Tuesday to mull options. He also said he had the honor of meeting with two previous superintendents of the Falls Church system on separate occasions this

week, Stuart Robertson and Mary Ellen Shaw. The tentative plan is to replace the gym floor at the Henderson Middle School, damaged by two unrelated water incidents, with a multi-purpose rubberized floor that will still qualify the gym as a competition site for Virginia High School League events. He noted that all the temporary classroom trailers will be gone from the expanded Mt. Daniel Elementary site by the end of the winter break, and a deal has been worked out for temporary parking at the High Point Pool until the parking lot at Mt. Daniel is completed in January. The School Board approved a calendar for the 2019-2020 year that begins just after Labor Day and runs to June 17 inclusive of 180 days of instruction, a two-week window at Christmas and a week of spring break running from April 6 – 13. Construction of the new high school on athletic fields is set to begin next June and ready for occupancy by December 2020. An unofficial survey showed 64 percent of school staff, he said, would like the school year to begin before Labor Day, and anecdotal student comments suggested many would appreciate the additional class time an earlier start would provide to prepare for fall IB and other testing.

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DECEMBER 13 - 19, 2018 | PAGE 5

THE FIRST NINE PARKING SPOTS Northside Social acquired from the Park Towers Condominiums, with chalk signs identifying the spaces. (Photo: News-Press)

Northside Social Adds New Parking in Nearby Condo Lot

by Matt Delaney

Falls Church News-Press

Northside Social in Falls Church announced it has acquired 10 new parking spots — the first for the popular restaurant — from Park Towers Condominiums. The move to add spaces, announced on social media Monday, comes after an unprecedented number of cars have been towed in the neighborhood

since the coffee and wine bar opened with just a lone accessible parking space six months ago. The new spots include nine spaces running along the Park Ave. side of the Park Towers parking lot and the tenth is a corner spot facing the 200 Park Ave. office building that houses Sylvan Learning Center. In a post on Facebook and Instagram, Northside Social said,

“We have temporary signage up at the moment and will have permanent signage up in the coming weeks. It’s a holiday season miracle!” The lack of dedicated parking for Northside Social was a contentious issue on many fronts for the establishment upon its opening in mid-June this year. Customers parked in nearby private lots and contributed to a 13,000-percent increase in towing from the previous year in the surrounding area. Neighboring business owners were unhappy Northside Social was permitted to open without having to supply and finance its own parking arrangements — a prerequisite other businesses had to satisfy in order to operate in the City. After the City’s decision to open public street parking spaces directly adjacent to Northside Social along both Park and Maple Ave., the ensuing congestion on both streets brought safety concerns to the forefront. The lot at the corner of Park and Maple Ave. was the home to the City’s oldest freestanding structure, the Cloverdale house, which had been derelict for years before Liberty Tavern Group purchased the property and transformed it into the now-bustling restaurant.

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F.C’s ‘Persons of The Year’

We at the Falls Church News-Press have a special cause to gather with our friends at tonight’s (Dec. 13) 29th annual FCNP Holiday Party, to which all are invited. The annual fete will be held at its usual venue, the fellowship hall of the Center for Spiritual Enlightenment at 222 N. Washington St. (next to the State Theatre) from 5:30 – 8 p.m. Our special guests will be U.S. Rep. Donald S. Beyer Jr., with his deep Falls Church roots, and live music by the smashing George Mason High School jazz band that stole the show at the school’s recent production of the Broadway musical, “Chicago.” Anthony’s Restaurant will cater. The party is a bit special this year because just this week Time magazine designated us, that is, all bonafide newspapers and news organizations, as “The Guardians,” collectively to be its “Persons of the Year.” We take this humbly as a poignant and worthy recognition of the news as one of democracy’s most essential institutions, and now under such fierce attack all across the globe by tyrants, all of whom, by the way, live in fear of their own people. Not only those martyred for the cause are included in Time’s recognition of “The Guardians,” as its brilliant lead essay by Karl Vick accompanying the announcement spelled out. For all the issues that have brought news organizations under siege nationally and globally, the bonds between journalists and the communities they cover at the local level, as in our case, remain strong, Time reports, citing a Poynter Institute poll showing more than 70 percent of Americans express either a “fair amount” or “a great deal” of trust in both their local papers and local TV news, even, as it says, “as resources for both continue to shrink.” With the explosion of the Internet’s role as a source for news, real or false, for better or worse, “engagement” with an audience means any activity on the platform which maximizes profits for companies that sell their public’s attention to advertisers, Time notes. “Print media and TV sells ads too, but their primary product is credibility.” Unfortunately, the Internet has siphoned away ad revenue, with roughly 60 percent of every digital advertising dollar in the U.S. now going to Google or Facebook. The net effect is that the number of professional journalists has dropped from 114,000 in 2009 to 88,000 in 2017, with almost 1,800 newspapers lost since 2004, according to the UNC Center for Innovation and Sustainability in Local Media in a report this October. Of the 3,143 counties in the U.S., only half now have just one newspaper and 200 have no newspaper, and between 1,300 and 1,400 communities that had newspapers of their own in 2004 now have no local news coverage at all. In terms of the big media, now only five corporations control what most Americans see or hear, compared to 50 in 1983.

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No Need for Proposed W&OD Trail Changes

Editor, I concur in Mr. Comella’s opinion that the proposed alterations to the W&OD Trail (in the city’s boundaries) are gratuitous [Letters to the Editor, Dec. 6 - 12, 2018]. Indeed, they are likely worse that that, in terms of environmental impact — there is a fair amount of wildlife making the W&OD Trail park a home. In

my opinion, it seems that someone wants a project to command. Even assuming that the proposed changes do some good per se, what good is it doing this in so limited a span? I’m a longtime cyclist, and I don’t see such a need as the proposal claims, neither here nor in any of the other 44 miles of W&OD Trail, Shirlington to Purcellville. There

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might be some good to extend the trail westwards to Round Hill. Dan Lehman Falls Church

City Arborist Should Do Better Job Protecting Trees Editor, It is said that the City of Falls Church has been designated a Tree City USA by the National Arbor Day Foundation. You would not know that from recent experience in Broadmont. In preparation

for new construction on a lot in the area, after the old house was demolished, the entire lot was clear cut — up to 10 mature trees removed. Many of these were at the rear of the lot, not noticeably in way of construction, and one in the front on the side, also not noticeably in the way. Presumably the city arborist was involved in the permitting process. It seems that we have a city executioner, not arborist, when it comes to tree preservation. Yes, this is private property, and it should be the city’s job to try to

Letters Continued on Page 8

FALLS CHURCH NEWS-PRESS | FCNP.COM

CO MME NT

DECEMBER 13 – 19, 2018 | PAGE 7

G � � � � C � � � � � �� In Appreciation of Mr. Brown & His Life Well Lived B� K�� T��

It is an honor to remember the man, the life of a wonderful person, Mr. Hugh Brown of Brown’s Hardware. Most of us called him Mister Brown, not just of respect for his age, but as an endearment and regard for who he was to the community. He was the third generation of the Brown family to live and serve the community here. In 1883, Mr. Brown’s grandfather, James W. Brown, who had been a school teacher in Loudoun County, moved to Falls Church. He operated the establishment as a general store at that time, and served here on the school board. When he died, all the businesses and the schools in town closed for the day of the funeral. His son, Horace Brown, Sr. took over operations in 1904. Mr. Hugh Brown, was born here in 1924, and lived in a dwelling beside and above the general store. It was a place with wood slab floors and a coal stove at the center, and the place for hosting community conversations. When he was young, he worked at the store cleaning up and helping Mr. Avon Lee with deliveries with their Model A Ford. Mr. Brown attended the Madison School, where the Sunrise is today. Even at age 93, he still had friends from his first-grade class who would visit. How

many of us still have our first-grade classmates as friends? He wrote in the yearbook that he wanted to be a dairy farmer. Mr. Brown completed high school at the Jefferson Institute. His older brother Horace

“We are all blessed with the experience of living in this place and time — in a place that provides a home town character – anchored by a warm comforting hardware store that has been here, family operated, for 135 years.” Jr. went on to attend VPI. Mr. Brown first went to relatives in rural New York to become that dairy farmer, but soon came back to Falls Church to help run the family business. It was Hugh Brown that changed the business to a hardware store in 1950. And in 1959 he had the new store built, the location we know today.

For almost 70 years he managed Brown’s Hardware as if were a community common service for us. When you visited there, you knew that he was there to help you — not to sell to you. He was genuine, and he ensured that his values conveyed through all of the staff at the store. He was a man of few words, quiet, even shy. But he had an easy laugh — and a dry wit. He demonstrated integrity. He had a very deep commitment to the community. He was not a big personality. You rarely heard him while working in the store. He seldom spoke publicly on issues — and when he did you knew it was genuine. We are all blessed with the experience of living in this place and time — in a place that provides a home town character – anchored by a warm comforting hardware store that has been here, family operated, for 135 years. Some might think that is nostalgic and by chance but is not — it was by a deliberate choice. You see, the developers came multiple times. We all know that he could have sold the property years ago, and continued to live a very nice life. He knew the monetary value of that corner and could have cashed out. But he didn’t. He didn’t go for the easy money. He continued working because he knew what that store meant to customers, the community — and the staff. He really lived his values in the face of overwhelming temptation. When I think of the life of Mr. Brown

— I think of George Bailey in the 1946 movie “It’s a Wonderful Life.” For years, the Village Preservation and Improvement Society showed the film during the Christmas season. Now the networks show it every year. In that 1946 movie — when George Bailey (played by Jimmy Stewart), was a young man — he had career options. But when his father died he knew the family business — the Bailey Brothers Loan Association and what it meant to the community and the staff. The movie shows us how different things would be — without the life and all of the small actions of a single person. If Mr. Brown had not lived the life he did, we all would have lost a part of our memories of a very special place — and a very special man. Because of his decisions many of us feel lucky that we could live in such a place as Falls Church — even within the beltway. When remembering his contribution to the community we are praising him and what we like best about Falls Church. His contributions are etched into our local history — and the memories of each of the lives that he touched. We bid him farewell — and convey the appreciation for a life well lived. Thank you, Mr. Brown for your wonderful life. Note: This year NBC is showing “It a Wonderful Life” on Christmas Eve.

Q�� W�� Will Falls Church’s new fiscal year budget result in a tax rate increase? • Yes • No

Last Week’s Question:

In the end, will the City’s new high school and other projects need more than the initial 3.5-cent real estate tax rate hike?

• Not sure

Log on to www.FCNP.com to cast your vote

FCNP On-Line polls are surveys, not scientiﬁc polls.

[WRITE FOR THE PRESS] The News-Press welcomes readers to send in submissions in the form of Letters to the Editor

& Guest Commentaries. Letters to the Editor should be no more than 350 words and writers are limited to one appearance every four weeks. Guest Commentaries should be no more than 800 words and writers are limited to one appearance every four months. Because of space constraints, not all submissions will be published. All submissions to the News-Press should be original, unpublished content. We reserve the right to edit submissions for length, grammar and accuracy. All submissions should include writer’s name, address, phone and e-mail address if available.

Email: letters@fcnp.com | Mail: Letters to the Editor, Falls Church News-Press, 200 Little Falls St., #508, Falls Church 22046 | Fax: 703.340.0347

LE TTE RS

PAGE 8 | DECEMBER 13 - 19, 2018

FALLS CHURCH NEWS-PRESS | FCNP.COM

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TO LETTERS THE EDITOR Continued from Page 6

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preserve tree cover wherever it is. Ironically, the general contractor uses the word “green” in its name. It is this kind of development, the kind that puts ease of construction over longer term environmental benefits, that Falls Church should be trying to avoid. There is nothing intrinsically wrong with home construction, but there is something wrong with construction that unnecessarily clears land of existing cover because it is simply easier to do. One expects our city administrators to take greater care in working with property owners in the permitting process to achieve a more environmentally friendly outcome. David McCloud Falls Church

Lessen Government Regulatory & Taxing Reach Editor, Stephen Spitz and Nancy Morgan have some great ideas for what most people can agree is the problem of too much money in politics [Letters to the Editor, Dec. 6 - 12, 2018]. Why not take their idea of introducing new and creative ways to finance political campaigns, which moneyed interests will find new and creative ways to exploit, and simplify it? How about lessening government’s regulatory and taxing reach into everybody’s lives? Special interests wouldn’t spend so much money investing in politicians if they didn’t expect such a great return on their investment. As David Burge once wrote, “If you want money out of politics get politics out of money.” Jeff Walyus Arlington

Schools Should Look at Non-Sugar References Editor, In response to article on page 18 in the Dec 6-12 issue, congratulations to the Falls Church

teams and staff and coaches for bringing fun into the engineering classroom. Thanks for the important positively encouraging introduction of the sciences in elementary school. I am sorry to learn Space Donuts did not place. The article mentioned Krispy Kremes were being wolfed down in the halls. (Not Astro Doughnuts? A missed marketing opportunity when NASA scientists were recruited to help the kids.) All sweet talk aside, sugar is being discussed by many nutritionists as a substance of concern. Just google it, and you will find TED talks or YouTubers addressing its range of effects...not just cavities. Perhaps an early introduction of nutrition class may benefit all. Instead of Space Donuts, how about a contest for another name without sugar references.. Space Ace? Space Go-nuts! Eat a light nutritious meal before the next competition. More importantly, a good night’s sleep before you compete. Helen Litoy Falls Church

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DECEMBER 13 - 19, 2018 | PAGE 9

NEWS BRIEFS F.C. Council Moves on Fellows Property Following a closed session Monday night, the Falls Church City Council voted to authorize the F.C. City Attorney and City Manager “to pursue acquisition of the Fellows property” at 604 S. Oak Street adjacent the Thomas Jefferson Elementary, “at the price disclosed in closed session as a resolution of the City’s Petition for Condemnation” (earlier reports said the price could exceed $4 million). Under the City’s terms, the land will be designated for “parks or school.” The land came into play following the passing of its long-time occupant, Betty Fellows, and moves by their heirs to subdivide it with an eye to multiple residential home uses.

Hockenberry Won’t Re-Up for Planning Commission Lindy Hockenberry, a City of Falls Church school teacher for more than 30 years, City Council member, vice mayor and, most recently, a member of the Planning Commission for the last eight years, had not registered to seek a virtually-certain new four-year term as the filing deadline passed for new terms in the new year. New appointments approved by the Council Monday included Julie Felgar to the Northern Virginia Community College Board, Robert A. Young and Erik Pelton to the Economic Development Authority, and Melissa Teates and Robert Puentes to the Planning Commission. Also, Pete Davis was sworn in as a member of the Housing Commission.

F.C. Council OKs New Gun Legislation At its meeting this Monday, the F.C. City Council voted unanimously to tighten up City gun control laws, even though its hands were tied by state laws preempting under the Dillon Rule. The new City ordinance pertains only to what state law permits, and it included a ban on loaded rifles and shotguns being carried in vehicles. F.C. Police Chief Mary Gavin spoke of being “wholeheartedly behind this,” saying “anytime we are able to control the use of weapons, it is good, safer for the community and our officers. The new ordinance permits officers to check the status of the weapons they encounter during routine stops. Council member Letty Hardi, a major force behind the new ordinance, praised the large turnout of “Moms Demand Action” who turned out to witness the vote. She also hailed the measure’s maintenance of the City’s ban on pneumatic (BB and pellet) guns because children have been hit with stray BBs in the City. Councilman Dan Sze said he hopes to see loopholes closed beyond just background checks to include those with histories of domestic violence. Councilman David Snyder stated that safety is a “number one priority,” and bemoaned “the severe limitations on locations” that the state imposes, and urged Richmond to focus on the repeal of State Code 15.2.915 that prohibits localities from passing any law that is not explicitly permitted by state law.

Beyer Blasts Trump Water Plan Rep. Don Beyer yesterday issued the following statement on the Trump Administration’s proposal to significantly weaken protections for wetlands and waterways under the Clean Water Act’s jurisdiction: “Trump’s proposed rule to gut the Clean Water Act’s environmental protections for streams and wetlands will put at risk the water sources that tens of millions of Americans depend upon,” said Rep. Beyer. “Trump is again acting to boost the profits of industry magnates and corporate polluters who spent millions to get him elected, while pretending EPA data showing the harm this will do to streams and wetlands simply doesn’t exist. The Dirty Water Rule is a farcical abuse of office which will damage the health of Americans and their environment.”

Kaine, Warner Hail $ for WMATA Yesterday, Virginia’s U.S. Sens. Mark R. Warner and Tim Kaine applauded an announcement by the U.S. Department of Transportation that the Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority (WMATA) will receive $20 million in federal funds to support platform rehabilitation work at seven outdoor Metrorail stations in Virginia. The money will be used to restore platforms, increase safety and improve the rider experience at the Braddock Road, King Street, Eisenhower Avenue, Van Dorn Street, Franconia-Springfield, National Airport, and Huntington stations on the Blue and Yellow lines.

Sunday, Dec. 23 Fourth Sunday of Advent 10:00 a.m. A Service of Lessons and Carols in the Historic Church

Monday, Dec. 24 Christmas Eve 10:00 a.m. Holy Communion in the Historic Church

4:00 p.m. Children’s Christmas Eve Pageant with Holy Communion in the Main Sanctary

8:00 p.m. Candlelit Service of Holy Communion in the Historic Church

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PAGE 12 | DECEMBER 13 – 19, 2018

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News-Press

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Community News & Notes McLean’s Alden Re-Opens After Extensive Renovation

according to Director of Youth Theatre Programs Danielle Van Hook. The first open event at the Alden will be “Liner Notes,” a Martin Luther King, Jr. Day celebration taking place on Jan. 20 at 2 p.m. Attendees will collide with music’s past and present through jazz standards, hip-hop samples and actual liner notes from musicians of the civil rights movement in this multimedia concert experience. $25 general admission; $15 MCC tax district residents. Running time is 90 minutes.

Year’s Eve. Watch Night is free and open to all and takes place in the 100 block of W. Broad Street with outside amusement venues including Grand FunAlley in the commercial lot between the 100 block of W. Broad to Park Avenue with activities suitable for kids of all ages, parents and grandparents. Watch Night also includes many indoor venues. The Falls Church Episcopal (115 E. Fairfax St., Falls Church) with music and historic tours as well as multiple activities taking place at The Falls Church Presbyterian Church (225 E Broad St., Falls Church) where the 21 piece Northern Lights Orchestra plays big band music and Cowboy Hay uses antique instruments to perform for all ages at 7 p.m. A professional face painter, caricaturist and balloon artist will also be at F.C. Presbyterian

Courtesy Shaun Van Steyn)

After an 18-month renovation, McLean Community Center’s (MCC) performing arts venue, The Alden, will return home in January. In celebration, the theater is offering a wide range of professional performances designed to appeal to all ages. Tickets for all season performances are on sale now at aldentheatre.org. “We’re looking forward to being back in the community’s beloved venue,” said Performing Arts Director Sarah Schallern. “The inside of the theater hasn’t been renovated; however, the rest of MCC will have amenities that will make the audience experience so much nicer.” In addition, the Alden’s youth performances have a greater focus on intergenerational shows,

BEHOLD, LORD STANLEY’S CUP! While the Washington Capitals themselves won’t get a chance to touch the Stanley Cup again until they win four games in (whichever) season’s June finale, students at the Langley School were treated to momentous visit from the Cup where every student at the small private school got some hands-on time with arguably the coolest trophy in all of professional sports. The students clearly enjoyed their proximity to it. (Photo: Courtesy Sharon Vipperman)

THE FALLS CHURCH POLICE DEPARTMENT went to The Neighborhood Barbershop for a celebratory “Movember” – or No Shave November – shave-off this past Sunday. City police recognize Movember with “Beards for Buddy,” in honor of Officer Buddy Turner (seated, center of the photo) and his fight against cancer. (Photo: Courtesy City of Falls Church)

A FIRSTFRIDAY showing at Art and Frame Falls Church from Dec. 7 spotlights artist and photographer Lewis Francis (Photo:

Watch Night Schedule & Activities Released Plans are being finalized for another celebration of Falls Church’s own Watch Night – New

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OPEN (AGAIN) AT LAST is the McLean Community Center, which wrapped up its renovations last week. (From left to right) Del. Mark Keam, MCC Governing Board Members Kat Kehoe, Raj Mehra and Alicia Plerhoples, Del. Kathleen Murphy, MCC Board Chairman Paul Kohlenberger, MCC Executive Director George Sachs, Longtime McLean Resident Robert (Bob) Alden, Del. Rip Sullivan, Dranesville District Supervisor John Foust, and State Sen. Janet Howell. (P��: C�� M�L�� C�� C��)

from 7 – 9 p.m. A puppet show will run until 9:30 p.m. in the parlor off N. Fairfax St. The Cherry Hill Farmhouse (312 Park Ave., Falls Church) will be open with a historic theme program from 1918 by The Victorian Society at Falls Church. A shuttle bus from the East Falls Church Metro will be running every 30 minutes at each stop. Many of the commercial businesses and restaurants along Broad St. and Washington St will be open throughout the night. The main stage will begin holding musical performances from three different groups starting at 7 p.m. — Leesburg Pike Band, John Ballou and his band and Sudden M’Pac will bring in the New Year with the climax of lowering the historic lighted star that was the first City Christmas decoration back in 1948 when it was atop the water tower behind the old First

Congregational Church. The star was renewed with new lights and painted so it could be the City of Falls Church version of Times Square, with the historic Watch Night star being lowered at midnight for the 12th year. Free hot chocolate, popcorn, Irish potato soup, cookies and apple juice will be served throughout the night. Purchasable refreshments will also be served at all satellite venues.

Lions Community Group Holds Week-Long Fundraiser From Dec. 12 – 18, The Lions of Northwest Arlington will be fundraising for charity at the Overlee Pool – bath house, lower level (6030 Lee Highway, Arlington). Potential donors are advised to enter the pool at the lower entrance off John Marshall Dr. The Lions will be offering fresh citrus, pecans, and maple

DECEMBER 13 – 19, 2018 | PAGE 13

IT’S A CHRISTMAS TRADITION. Members of the Bailey’s Crossroads Rotary Club buy toys to help local children have a happier holiday. The effort is run by Rotarian Dave Mercer. Mercer collected funds from individual club members along with a donation from the club’s charitable funds for a total $3,195.Some of the money was used to purchase children’s books. The remainder was spent for toys at the Skyline Target. (P��: C�� D�� B��)

syrup for sale. The hours the fundraising will take place are: Thursday — 7 a.m. – 3 p.m.; Friday — 10:30 a.m. – 3:30 p.m.; Saturday — 9:30 a.m. – 2:30 p.m.; Sunday — 11:30 a.m. – 3:30 p.m.; Monday — 10:30 a.m. – 3:30 p.m. and Tuesday — 7 a.m. – 4 p.m. For more information, contact 703-528-1130.

Nationals Take Applications For Racing Presidents As the Washington, D.C. metro area gears up for another Washington Nationals Baseball season, the Racing Presidents are also preparing for the 2019 season and are looking for new applicants to “run for office” and join the next class of Racing Presidents. The deadline to apply for a tryout to be one of the Racing Presidents is Saturday, Dec. 15. Auditions will take place on

Sunday, Jan. 6. Aspiring Presidents looking to fill the shoes of George, Tom, Abe, Teddy and Bill can find more information and apply at teamworkonline.com/baseball-jobs/ baseballjobs/washington-nationals and click on “Marketing Jobs.” Applicants must be 18 years or older with a High School diploma or GED. Previous mascot experience is preferred but not required.

Volunteer Opportunities In Fairfax County Govt. The Fairfax County government has multiple volunteer opportunities avaialble. Meals on Wheels drivers and coordinators are needed for routes throughout the county. Much of the coordination can be completed via phone and computer. For more information, call 703-324-5406, TTY 711 or go to fairfaxcounty. gov/OlderAdults and click on

Volunteer Solutions. Apply online at volunteer.fairfaxcounty.gov. Fairfax County’s Chronic Disease Self-Management Program needs volunteer leaders to facilitate workshops for people with chronic illness. Training is provided. For more information, contact 703-324-5374, TTY 711. Go to FairfaxCounty.gov/dfs/ OlderAdultServices/chronic-disease.htm. Apply online at volunteer.fairfaxcounty.gov. Fairfax County needs volunteers to drive older adults to medical appointments and wellness programs. For more information, call 703-324-5406, TTY 711 or go to fairfaxcounty.gov/olderadults and click on Volunteer Solutions. Apply online at volunteer.fairfaxcounty.gov. To find out more about all volunteer opportunities and register, call 703-324-5406, TTY 711 or go to fairfaxcounty.gov/OlderAdults and click on Volunteer Solutions.

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PAGE 14 | DECEMBER 13 – 19, 2018

A Penny for Your Thoughts

News of Greater Falls Church By Supervisor Penny Gross

December may be a popular time for shopping, but it also is a popular time for donations to favorite charities. Just as stores depend on holiday shoppers to keep their ledgers in the black, so, too, do nonprofit organizations rely on holiday philanthropy to maintain their programs. Whether human services, the environment, animals, or civil rights and justice, there is a local non-profit just waiting for your generous support. In Mason District, the Annandale Christian Community for Action, or ACCA, has been providing support since 1967, when Emily and Fred Ruffing identified a need for quality child care, at a time when women were beginning to enter the workforce in larger numbers. The Ruffings worked with the faith community to create the volunteer organization that continues to serve to this day. ACCA’s Child Development Center (CDC), in the former Annandale Elementary School on Columbia Pike, serves hundreds of preschoolers, and their families, who need the quality care and school readiness that ACCA provides. Other programs include a furniture ministry, which provides beds, bedding, and other needed items for needy families; a food pantry, rental and utility assistance, and other needs. Most of ACCA’s programs have no offices, so you are likely to reach a volunteer at home; as one volunteer coordinator once told me, “I might still be in my bedroom slippers when you call!” More information about ACCA, and how to donate, is available at accacares.org. Merica House, an independent living environment where severely physically disabled adults can live in a home setting, with aides, staff, and volunteers, was

created in 1995 through the efforts of Harry Merica, a young man who wanted to live as independently as possible, not “warehoused” or dependent on elderly parents for care. Partnering with the Alliance for the Physically Disabled, Merica House acquired and modified two apartments in Skyline Plaza that can accommodate up to seven adults. At the time, such housing with associated care was virtually nonexistent in the Commonwealth of Virginia. Today’s Merica House residents are bright, engaged adults who enjoy being around other people and their peers, not relegated to the isolated life that once was thought to be the only option. Merica House, funded through residents’ rent and private donations, needs support to maintain the apartments, provide items of daily living for the residents, and expand this worthwhile endeavor. Merica House truly operates on a shoestring. More information can be found at www.theapd.org. I’ve written about the Culmore Clinic before, and it remains a favorite Mason District non-profit organization. The clinic began in 2007 to serve uninsured community members who had no other options for health care. Founders Ann Cartwright and Terry O’Hara LaVoie started the clinic in a mosque, moved various times to volunteer space, and have outgrown their space once again. That’s good news! The clinic also needs support to continue its work. You can learn more at www. culmoreclinic.org.  Penny Gross is the Mason District Supervisor, in the Fairfax County Board of Supervisors. She may be emailed at mason@fairfaxcounty.gov.

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FALLS CHURCH NEWS-PRESS | FCNP.COM

From the Front Row: Kaye Kory’s

Richmond Report This Sunday I had the pleasure of hosting the Late Autumn Launch of the Blue Wave, a coalition of grassroots activist groups who dedicated themselves to changing the composition of the House of Delegates in the 2017 election. They succeeded beyond anyone’s expectations by electing so many new Delegates that the number of Democrats and the number of women in the HOD nearly doubled. They proved that every vote counts and every voice makes a difference. They proved that informed, active citizens can change the face of their government. This coalition enabled us to pass Medicaid Expansion legislation and offer healthcare to at least 300,000 working, yet uninsured, Virginians. The passage of Medicaid Expansion also freed up hundreds of thousands of dollars in our budget, allowing us to fund critical needs such as education, mental health, and transportation. Governor Northam’s Medicaid Expansion bill-signing ceremony on the Capitol steps this summer was an historic moment and I was proud to be a part of it. This coalition also supported my bill, HB83, which mandated that menstrual supplies be available to all incarcerated women in Virginia at no cost. I am proud to say that HB83 passed both houses of the

General Assembly unanimously and now is officially in the Code of Virginia. After these successes, grassroots advocates are energized and ready to keep the Blue Wave momentum strong and focused on important issues coming up in the 2019 General Assembly session. Legislation such as the Equal Rights Amendment bill which I filed in the 2018 session. Even though it was not heard as a part of any Committee’s agenda and never made it to the floor for a full House vote, many folks who were uninvolved became inspired to make this their cause. I have joined those ERA advocates in my commitment to the passage of the ERA in 2019. It is time to finally bring equal status under the law to women in the Commonwealth. As a community organizer trained in the Saul Alinsky method, I am excited by the grassroots groups who are tireless in their pursuit of progressive change. We have more tough obstacles to overcome in support of improving the quality of life in Virginia; but I have confidence that together, we will make it happen. .  Delegate Kory represents the 38th District in the Virginia House of Delegates. She may be emailed at DelKKory@house.virginia.gov. T:7”

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DECEMBER 13 – 19, 2018 | PAGE 15

‘It’s a Wonderful Life’ Was Deemed Subversive

It’s not, as they say, rocket science. Anyone who can calculate the outcome of last month’s midterm elections has notice. The outside number for House seats to flip from Republican to Democrat was 40, and “realistic” predictions were in the 20-25 range. It took awhile for all the votes to be counted, but now it is 40. Surviving Republican lawmakers at all levels of government have to be worried, and taking stock in yesterday’s announcement by a Kansan who didn’t wait for an election to flip herself. State Sen. Barbara Bollier from Mission Hills in Kansas formally announced that she’s switched parties from Republican to FALLS CHURCH NEWS-PRESS Democrat, citing Donald Trump has her main motivator. She also said that the GOP discriminatory policy on transgender identity was a factor. Maybe the passing of George Herbert Walker Bush earlier this month was timely in an important way to slap awake a lot of Republicans who’ve been lulled into following the “Freedom Caucus” lemming stampede to the cliff. To date, we’ve been only sorely disappointed to learn how apparently baked in to the Republican brand even those who we hoped might know better have become. They haven’t learned the most important lesson that holding one’s nose and supporting a bad person because they support some of the what they consider the right policies is profoundly wrong on a multitude of levels. For one thing, these people obviously do not take issues of religious faith seriously, because if they did they could not behave as they have. The hypocrisy and the duplicity are far too evident, and there is no major religious tradition that does not condemn such things. Anyone who is a true believer would have to have converted to some twisted form of Satanism to justify their actions to this point. But if fear of losing an election won’t work, fear of going to jail won’t work, and fear of going to hell won’t either, then it’s hard to imagine what can cause a change of heart. Well, it’s the holiday season, and maybe a good cocktail combining a strong dose of Charles Dickens’ “A Christmas Carol” with the H.W. funeral might begin shaking some foundations. They always do a great job with “A Christmas Carol” at Washington, D.C.’s historic Ford’s Theater, where in 1865 perhaps the greatest American leader ever earned his wings. H.W. was not in the category of a Lincoln, and all the public homage to his legacy this month ignored some of his much less than salutary actions as president, in particular his inaction on the AIDS crisis, but it wasn’t hard to make him appear little less than a saint simply for not being a Donald Trump. Then there is the holiday tradition, for many, of watching the 1947 Frank Capra classic film, “It’s a Wonderful Life.” That magnificent film was born of the generosity of spirit that animated post-World War II America, a generosity that arose from a genuine cultural feeling that America, collectively, had done something really good in successfully prosecuting a war against a truly evil adversary. It is yet another terrible irony of history that this generosity was chipped away by America’s own intelligence community, in this case in the form of a memo by the FBI which warned that the film was pro-Communist and subversive of red blooded American values as embodied in the character of Mr. Potter, the blood-sucking banker who would have driven Bedford Falls into the sewer but for the resilience of the local banker, the movie’s hero, George Bailey as played by Jimmy Stewart. Raised in that era, when other great films like “Miracle on 42nd Street,” “I Remember Mama,” “The Yearling,” “Red River” and many others were popular, I and my family never heard about “It’s a Wonderful Life,” presumably because of the controversy the FBI built around it as its “Hollywood 10” and other “Red Scare” programs began to kick in. The FBI’s use of Hollywood to spread fear, suspicion and superstition was the genesis of what has become of the pathetic GOP of today. It was a surviving residue of fascist and anti-FDR ”New Deal” sympathies from that era.  Nicholas Benton may be emailed at nfbenton@fcnp.com.

Nicholas F. Benton

Our Man in Arlington By Charlie Clark

Crystal City is not a city. I’ve had to stress this point repeatedly to journalistic colleagues raised elsewhere who were planning to dateline stories from the exotic-sounding “Crystal City, Va.” Such misconceptions about this transforming section of Arlington will persist given last month’s huge Amazon announcement, which has brought no end of speculation over Crystal City’s future. It also prompted new interest in its colorful past as residents strive to maintain a human space below the glass tower skyline. Last week, WAMU radio personality Kojo Nnamdi brought his “Roadshow” town hall to the neighborhood’s Synetic Theater to explore the pros and cons of Arlington’s successful luring of the online giant’s second HQ. County Board Chair Katie Kristol touted long-term benefits for a restrained county investment, while Roshan Abraham of the nonprofit Our Revolution Arlington questioned the “massive state gift to a company headed by the world’s richest person.” Warning against rising traffic and reduced parking for residents was Carol Fuller, president of the Crystal City Civic Association (founded in 2014 as the county’s “only civic association with no single-family homes.”) In September, in the runup to Amazon’s advent, Fuller recruited Arlington historian Kathryn Holt Springston for a talk titled “Crystal City: From Swamps, Forts and brickyards

to Skyscrapers?” Springston said vestiges of the 19th-century racetrack were visible in the neighborhood until the 1940s. She described the area’s two early 20th-century amusement parks, Arlington Beach and Luna Park. Fuller scored an interview with her neighbor, magazine publisher David Bruce Smith, the son of Crystal City developer Robert H. Smith whose widow, philanthropist Clarice, lives nearby. The younger Smith shot down the common misconception that the enclave name came from “Crystal House,” the first of 40 buildings begun in 1964 by Robert Smith and partner Robert Kogod. In fact, that first apartment tower on South Eads was named for the chandelier the two installed after being impressed by a similar one in Dallas, Texas. Before development flourished (the entrepreneurs offered bargain rates to federal agencies), the area “was a conglomeration of places that sold junk, used tires, a drive-in movie theater, a run-down ice skating rink, second-hand materials — it was very unattractive,” said the older Smith in his 2009 Washington Post obituary. “Clay pits and kilns,” was how Arlington historian Cornelia B. Rose described the area dominated in the early the 20th century by the brickworks of the Washington Brick and Terra Cotta Co. The industrial area leading to the Potomac Yard railway tracks for decades was bordered by sketchy bar-rooms of the 19th-century Jackson City and National Airport’s precursor,

Hoover Field. To its south was a section affectionately called “the Dump” by local girl Zula Dietrich in her memoir of childhood in the 1920s. It “smoldered along – 24/7 – for more years than anyone wants to remember,” she wrote before the incinerator, sewage treatment and hazardous waste complex emerged on South Glebe Rd. Today’s Crystal City retains status as host of Arlington’s only strip club. The Crystal City Restaurant Gentleman’s Club on South 23rd St. was established in 1963 by William Bayne Sr. “with the intention of providing quality hot meals to the Arlington area,” says its website. He then “decided to add adult live entertainment to the menu to spice things up a bit.” We’ll see whether Amazon’s arrival spices things up even more. *** A disputatious Arlington schools committee floated a new name for Washington-Lee High School. On Dec. 20 it will formally present the board with a proposal to drop Robert E. Lee and honor Richard and Mildred Loving, the pioneering interracial married couple from Caroline County, Va., who won their landmark Supreme Court case in 1967. So the beloved school’s 93-year-old initials are preserved. The nickname for the “Washington-Loving” sports teams has not been determined, I’m told by APS spokeswoman Linda Erdos. But participants suggested the existing “Generals” might still work.

PAGE 16 | DECEMBER 13 - 19, 2018

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The Perfect Little City Gift This Holiday Season! To order online, visit FCNP.com/frontpages1

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DOODLEHOPPER 4 KIDS assistant manager Jessi Cash points to the store’s tower dedicated to all things unicorn. (Photo: Patricia Leslie)

DECEMBER 13 – 19, 2018 | PAGE 17

SHOWING OFF the award-winning cooperative adventure board game “Forbidden Sky,” is store associate Caroline Roane. (Photo: Patricia Leslie)

A Look at this Holiday Season’s Hottest Toys by Patricia Leslie

Falls Church News-Press

With Christmas fast approaching and some local Santa Clauses having yet to leap into action, a crash course in this season’s big ticket items found in area toy stores is here to the spare the elves from working overtime and slackers with too little time (you can thank us later). At the bustling Doodlehopper 4 Kids on West Broad St., little feet were scurrying around the floor-to-ceiling mountains of toys, games and books that are suitable for kids of all ages — even the big ones stopping by for themselves. “I’ve made a mental note about what’s here,” Dan Bates, a Falls Church resident since 1986, said. “I’ve always played games, almost all my life, and dropped in to see what kinds they have.” Plenty of games line the shelves which the store’s assistant manager, Jessi Cash, was happy to point out, like the hot selling Upshot, a virtual reality game used with a

phone as the controller. “You’ll be shooting down dragons and such,” she said, still smiling after a hectic day and hours on her feet. Vintage games are available, too which she says adults love because they’re throwbacks to their youth. (Think, “Sorry,” “Candyland” and “Pac-Man” for starters.) Leading a tour of the shop, Cash said the store has not one best-selling item, but several popular sections like unicorns, “squishables” and STEM (science, technology, engineering and math) toys. Robots – a top seller – had sold out last weekend, but Doodlehopper has remote cars which “Always have a lot of requests for, and they keep improving them. We have three this year which are voice-controlled, and one is a transformer,” Cash added. First stop on the store tour were the unicorns: “Pretty much anything with a unicorn on it is

popular,” Cash said, and although mostly girls like unicorns, some boys do, too. Then came the “squishables” — soft, pillowy figures with faces and shapes of animals like kittens and sharks, and food, among several categories. How about a piece of squishable avocado toast with that Christmas drink? Or, a giant burrito? “They’re super cute and very popular. Boys and girls love them.” she said. “Every time we get them in, they sell out.” Near the front of the store are the always-popular Legos and their cousins, “plus-plus” toys which are more easily assembled and made for younger children than Legos. Next on the tour was the “everything Harry Potter” section. “He is always hot and getting hotter with the new movie coming out,” Cash continued. Dolls with magnetic pacifiers, mock apparel for ballerinas, veterinarians and pediatric nurses,

and yes, drones for children are also available. The store is not big on “screen toys, tech-based toys. There are so many computer games,” Cash said. “We try very, very hard to stand out without the video game thing. We like being hands on.” Based on comments from customers, Doodlehopper succeeds. Jason Perkins, a science and special education teacher at George Mason High School, lives with his family within walking distance of Doodlehopper where the Perkinses shop once or twice a month. He explained they weren’t there Saturday to Christmas shop but to satisfy his seven-year-old daughter’s love for shopping. She and her nine-year-old sister were looking for things for themselves, Perkins mentioned. “They get paid an allowance for trying hard in school so my youngest daughter has about eight or nine dollars that are burning a hole in her pocket that she’s looking to spend,” Perkins said. “It’s nice the Doodlehopper provides

wrapping and there are local students who work here. They have a lot of nice toys and very good service. We just like to support the place where we live.” Mary and Erin Kohler drove from outside Fairfax City to come to the shop because, Mary said, it has lots of good things for their one and a half-year-old nephew. “It’s a perfect store for him,” said Erin, Mary’s daughter. “We want to support small business. We try to shop locally as much as we can. We’ve grown up in this area and have known Doodlehopper a long time,” Mary added with a smile. Store prices range from stocking stuffers at 99 cents on up to about $250 for the highest-priced toy, Cash and associate Caroline Roane said. Doodlehopper 4 Kids, 234 W. Broad St., Falls Church. It’s open Monday through Sunday with extended shopping hours on Friday, Dec. 21, until 9 p.m. The store will be open on Dec. 24, closing at 6 p.m.

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New Henderson Exhibit Brings Flair to Familiar Figure by Matt Delaney

Falls Church News-Press

With friends and family onhand to celebrate the occasion, a fresh take on the Mary Ellen Henderson exhibit was unveiled on last week at the Falls Church City middle school that bears her name. What was formerly four freestanding, six-foot-tall bi-folds that, along with one of the original desks found in the schools the local icon taught at, was originally a traveling exhibit geared toward adults. Now it’s been replaced by eight sleek, framed panels adorning the wall that are better suited for a middle school audience. The panels, complete with photos from her youth as well as her adult years in Falls Church, cover the entire gamut of what Henderson accomplished — from her days as an educator who was fondly referred to as “Miss Nellie” by her students, to her ardent activism for the rights of African-Americans in the City of Falls Church. “We wanted to capture the totality of who she was as an

FALLS CHURCH CITY’S School Board Chair Lawrence Webb scopes out the reimagined Henderson exhibit shortly after its unveiling. (Photo: News-Press) educator, a person and her legacy in general,” Henderson principal Valerie Hardy said. “The goal was to paint a picture so that middle schoolers could understand it at a glance, but also go deeper if they wanted to.” Funding for the project originally came by way of a grant from the Falls Church Education Foundation that was awarded during former principal Ty Harris’ time at the helm. The project had

little inertia until the spring of this year when Hardy’s personal connection to the Henderson family spurred her to take action. A longtime friend of Shaina Solomon, the niece of the Hendersons’ grandson and (living) local icon Ed Henderson, Hardy was excited to work with a family she admired and on representing a figure whose impact on the community was profound. Hardy was joined in her effort

by Falls Church City Public Schools’ communication specialist Carol Sly, who worked on piecing together and fact-checking the bits of information she received from both the Henderson family and various historical sources to ensure accuracy. Sly helped break down her archive of research into the six panels that make up “The Life of Mary Ellen Henderson,” with the other two panels showing a young portrait of Henderson and

a timeline of significant events in her life. With the help of George Mason High School teacher Kenny George’s knowledge of large format printers to help make the panels and save some money in the proces, Tom Gittins from Art and Frame Falls Church to frame the physical panels and the Henderson Parent-Teacher Association to cover the costs that the grant didn’t, the new exhibit came together in right around seven months. When it was revealed last week, three of Henderson’s grandchildren were present to witness the moment, with Ed Henderson’s sisters Ellen Wimbish and Dena Sewell joining their younger brother in enjoying the moment. “It was quite a journey. We were so glad it could come together,” Henderson said. “[Hardy] was a joy to work with and made it painless for us. We’d been collecting stuff for years, so whenever she asked for something we were usually able to find it for her.” The exhibit can be found to the immediate left upon entering the school’s main entrance.

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B�� N�� N�� F.C. Chamber Luncheon, Annual Report & Sweater Contest Tuesday The Falls Church Chamber of Commerce is hosting its networking luncheon, annual report to the membership, and ugly sweater contest on Tuesday, Dec. 18 from 11:30 a.m. – 1 p.m. at the Italian Café. Tickets with pre-registration are $27 for members and $32 for nonmembers. An additional $5 is charged for walk-ins should space be available. For more information or to register, visit www.FallsChurchChamber.org. The Italian Café is located at 7161 Lee Highway in Falls Church.

Merrifield Business Assn. Hosting Holiday Luncheon Dec. 19 The Greater Merrifield Business Association is hosting a holiday luncheon and silent auction for the Arc of Northern Virginia on Wednesday, Dec. 19 from 11:30 a.m. – 1:30 p.m. at Trio Grill. Tickets are $30. All proceeds from the auction will benefit the Arc of Northern Virginia’s programs to support people with intellectual and developmental disabilities and their families. To register, or for more information, visit www.GreaterMerrifield.org. Trio Grill is located at 8100 Lee Highway in Falls Church.

ProBike FC Collecting Legos for Children With Cancer Until Dec. 17 ProBike FC is collecting Lego kits until Dec. 17 when riders will cycle from ProBike FC’s location at 116 E. Fairfax to Inova Hospital to deliver them to children in the cancer ward. Kits can be dropped off at the cycling center that specializes in coaching, development and overall cycling improvement during normal business hours, 11 a.m. – 7 p.m., Tuesdays – Fridays and 9 a.m. – 5 p.m. on Saturdays. For more information, call 703-854-1427.

Pancake House Collecting Toys, Clothes for Annual Christmas Breakfast The Original Pancake House is collecting clothes and toys for its 15th annual Christmas Day Breakfast for homeless families and less fortunate members of the greater Falls Church community. New or gently used coats, hoodies, gloves, and hats for children and adults and new toys for the more than 250 children who attend the breakfast each year can be dropped off at the Falls Church location in the Shops at West Falls Church, 7395 Lee Highway. For more information, visit www.ophrestaurants. com.

Dominion Hospital Relocates F.C. Program Dominion Hospital has relocated its Falls Church Adolescent Partial Hospitalization Program, situated less than one mile from the main hospital at 6565 Arlington Boulevard, Suite 506. The program will now be housed with the Adolescent Intensive Outpatient Program in one building allowing for more cohesive experience for patients and their families. The new area features spacious group rooms, a light-filled community room, SMART TVs in patient care areas, and a state-of-the-art laptop cart for patients to access their school’s eLearning site. The program, serving ages 13 – 17 provides a flexible treatment option for a more gradual transition after an inpatient stay and can also be used to stabilizing behaviors before they require an inpatient level of care. For more information, visit www.dominionhospital.com.

Paint Wine Glasses at The Locker Room Next Wednesday The Locker Room is hosting Paint UR Own Holiday Wine Glasses on Wednesday, Dec. 19 from 7 – 9 p.m. The $25 registration fee includes two glasses, paint and instruction for two designs. Food and beverage specials will also be offered. The Locker Room is located at 502 W. Broad Street. For more information, visit www. theLockerRoomFC.com.  Business News & Notes is compiled by Sally Cole, Executive Director of Greater Falls Church Chamber of Commerce. She may be emailed at sally@fallschurchchamber.org.

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Mason Girls Clear Conscience with Season’s 1st Victory by Matt Delaney

Falls Church News-Press

Victory was tasted at last by George Mason High School’s girls basketball team, who ended its season-long skid by defeating John Paul the Great Catholic High School 46-42 Tuesday night. The Mustangs (1-4) had their work cut out for them entering the final frame. With Mason trailing the visiting Wolves, 32-29, John Paul the Great knocked down a long jumper and two free throws to push its lead to 36-29 with seven minutes to go in the game. Mason had been in a slow-moving freefall over the previous two quarters, outscored 24-15 in 15 minutes of gameplay after holding a 14-7 lead early in the second quarter. The seven-point deficit seemed to signal the vanishing hope of the season’s first win, until the Mustangs wrangled together some gumption and willed their way to a win. “It’s a big monkey off our back. The girls have been coming in everyday and giving their all,” Mason head coach Chris Carrico said. “It’s good to see us have a little bit of success. Obviously it

LATE GAME HEROICS by freshman guard Zoraida Icabalceta helped clinch the Mustangs’ first win of the season Tuesday over John Paul the Great Catholic High School. (Photo: Carol Sly) didn’t go perfectly, but it’s really nice to come out on the winning side of things.” What had been an unkind rim all night (for both teams) finally started to ease up on Mason with five minutes to play. Freshman forward Megan Tremblay banked a shot in near the basket before senior guard Maddie Lacroix stepped inside the 3-point line

for a long deuce to bring the Mustangs within three at 36-33. With 3:18 to play junior forward Julia Rosenberger knocked down a corner three to put Mason just behind at 37-36. Lacroix followed Rosenberger’s three-ball with one of her own that was nicely set up by freshman guard Zoraida Icabalceta’s kickout to give Mason its first lead since

the midway through the second quarter. John Paul the Great hit a two right back to tie up the score again with 1:57 remaining. Icabalceta made a pair at the line to push Mason back up on the ensuing possession, and Lacroix’s missed bunny to seal the game was atoned for when she sank both her free throws to go up 43-39.

A Wolves three with 20 seconds to go brought them close, but trips to the line by Icabalceta and Rosenberger netted three points for the Mustangs and solidified the final result. The game was more melee than masterpiece throughout, mainly due both teams’ inability to corale rebounds. Carrico assured that it was a regular focus of practice that included getting guards to crash the boards as well as directing the teams’ bigs in junior forwards Emma Rollins and Agnes Jagerskog to be stronger catching balls off the glass, so improvement should be en route. One poor quarter spelled doom for the Mustangs against Thomas Jefferson High School for Science & Technology on Dec. 6. Mason was down 23-15 by halftime, but an 11-2 third quarter split that favored the Colonials all but dampened any hopes of the Mustangs achieving their first win of the season five days before they actually did. The Mustangs will play Manassas Park High School on the road tomorrow before hosting Broad Run High School on Dec. 18.

Rebounding Takes Center Stage as Mustangs Dominate Boards in 63-52 Win by Matt Delaney

Falls Church News-Press

A 63-52 triumph over Loudoun County High School marks three straight and an official win streak for George Mason High School’s boys basketball team to open their season. The Mustangs (3-1) are passing their primary two tests from the preseason — playing full court defense and collecting rebounds — with flying colors during their current heater. Both tend to play off one another, with the press forcing teams into taking bad shots that become runaway rebound opportunities; perfect for a Mason team that likes to keep the pace of play quick. The recipe has worked well so far as dominating the glass defined the game against the Raiders. “We dominated the boards 41-23, and that’s a testament to how tough we’re playing right now,” Mason head coach Chris Capannola said. “Everybody is getting into the act, as all 11 guys that played had at least two rebounds. We’re not letting our

size disadvantage cost us and we’re actually using it to our advantage on both ends of the floor.” The Mustangs opened with a 5-0 run and never looked back in last Friday’s win. Entering the second quarter they held a 14-7 lead that they were able to lengthen to 30-21 by halftime. Coming out of halftime, Mason kept the pressure and unleashed a barrage of buckets to push its advantage to 18 — the largest of the contest. But a little relaxation by the Mustangs, and strong sense of desperation by Loudoun County, saw the visitors start to rally from there. The Raiders trimmed the lead to five with roughly two minutes to go, but Mason kept its head on straight. The hosts were perfect 6-for-6 from the line to close the game out and helped bring the game to its final margin. Capannola was happy with the win considering Loudoun County was on a three-game win streak of its own over solid competition before entering The Pit. Senior

JUNIOR FORWARD David Miller’s (making layup) energetic play was mentioned as “contagious” among his teammates by Mason’s head coach Chris Capannola. (Photo: Carol Sly) standouts Max Ashton (25 points, seven rebounds and three assists) and Hollman Smith (10 points, six rebounds and two assists) brought the team along and got some help from sophomore guard Deven Martino (eight points) and junior forward Daniel Miller (nine

points, eight rebounds, with the latter earning some individual praise. “Miller has been really good the last couple games. He’s athletic and full of energy and he’s improving by leaps and bounds,” Capannola added. “His enthusi-

asm is contagious and he’s really enjoying himself out there. It’s fun to watch.” Mason has two more games before they enter the holiday break, starting with a home matchup against Manassas Park High School tomorrow night.

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DECEMBER 13 – 19, 2018 | PAGE 21

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School News & Notes 5 Mason Teams Compete At CyperPatriot Event

Parent-Teacher Association and its teacher grants program.

This past Saturday, 25 George Mason High School students on five different teams competed in the six hour CyberPatriot event. The groups collaborated to achieve their best score on all the cybersecurity challenges, working right through to the final minute of the competition. The teams worked to find security vulnerabilities on Windows 7 and 10 operating systems, and Ubuntu 14, and in the second part, they had a networking quiz and a packet tracer focusing on solving security issues on a simulated network exercise sponsored by CISCO. The five teams all move on to the State round that will take place in January.

Mason Debate Team Does Public Forum Format

Patient First Gives First Community Contribution Patient First is holding its grand opening on Friday, but ahead of opening their doors to customers, the new business has already made an impression in community building with a $1,000 donation to the Falls Church Education

The Public Forum Debate was held at Broad Run High School on Saturday. George Mason High School’s group, which involved working in pairs of Fernanda Molina and Colter Adams, and Charlie Adams and Evan Lankford participated in Junior Varsity, while Chris Kim and Miles Lankford competed at the varsity level. Last weekend, Bella Hubble and Mithi Penaranda (Public Forum) and Grace Keenan (Speech) participated in the George Mason University Patriot Invite. Next week, Grace Keenan and Elisabeth Snyder will compete in Speech at Robinson High School. If anyone is interested in joining the teams, contact Julie Bravin at bravinj@fccps.org.

8th Grade Geography Bee Results Are Finalized After initial results where 15 students scored 90 percent or

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higher in the first round of the Mary Ellen Henderson Middle School geography bee, the group continued to compete for the top three spots in the 8th grade and the honor of moving on to the school-wide competition. The final three eighth graders selected were Turan Ahmad, Katharine Hal, and Stella Turner. The 6th grade narrowed its field last week, and the 7th grade competes for its top three on Dec. 21. The school-wide competition will be held on Jan. 25.

Teacher of the Year Award Now Accepting Nominations The nomination period is open for The Falls Church Education Foundation Teacher of the Year Award. Everyone – from students and parents to Falls Church City Public School staff and administrators – are encouraged to recognize a teacher who has made a difference in FCCPS. FCEF will announce the nominees in January with the winner announced in April 2019. The deadline is Friday, Jan. 4, 2019. Contact teacherofyear@ fccps.org with any questions.

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Providence Players’ ‘A Christmas Carol’ Puts New Twist on Famous Play by Orrin Konheim

Falls Church News-Press

For its holiday-themed play of the season, the Providence Players of Fairfax chose an extremely ambitious adaptation of Charles Dickens’ “A Christmas Carol” by Rob Zapple that’s set in Missouri during the Great Depression. The classic Dickens iteration follows a miserly businessman in 18th-Century London, Ebenezer Scrooge (played here by David Whitehead), as he’s visited by his late business partner, Marley (Steven Palkovitz), who warns him of three Christmas ghosts. The ghosts show him his effects on others in his past, present and future and transform him into a more generous person towards his nephew, Fred (Kyle McClain), and employee Bob Cratchit (Daniel Lavanga). “It’s related to Christmas because of the theme of giving. It’s a tale about redemption and rebirth,” said director Beth GilesWhitehead who has been nominated for several Washington Area Theater Community Honors with her past PPF productions. The Providence Players’

story is framed through a travelling troubadour during the Great Depression who’s asked by the townsfolk to read “A Christmas Carol” in exchange for gas. Naturally, the man remembers the story as set in Missouri which gives the audience the opportunity to experience these iconic characters with Midwestern accents and costumes. On top of that, the play layers a wonderful soundscape of music with many of the background players humming Christmas tunes. In keeping with the Midwestern motif, there is a small bluegrass combo performing in various combinations throughout the play. There’s a lot to appreciate about the efforts to create a strong sense of place here with the set design (two ornate wooden shacks that seem entirely functional were built for this production), music and costumes that go a step above. Additionally, the play deserves credit for a large ensemble that tonally stays on the same page in terms of the needed balance of levity, sadness and heightened realism. Most people who are attending this play will know how this story ends yet it’s a testament

DAVID WHITEHEAD (left) as Ebenezer Scrooge with Kyle McClain as Nephew Fred in the Providence Players production of “A Christmas Carol.” (Photo: Courtesy Chip Gertzog) to David Whitehead’s performance that the end still packs an emotional punch. So in terms of executing this script, Beth GillesWhitehead and her cast do their job well. The question, however, is what the script is trying to accomplish. Rob Zapple decided to adapt the play to a shantytown (or “Hooverville” as it was known in the local vernacular) outside Saint Louis during the Great Depression because he saw the similarities between that period of American history and Dickensonian Times. But how does this larger theme play itself out in any way other

than simply sticking Dickens’ characters in Midwestern clothing? The characters in the imagination of the troubadour could pass for British or Missourian as their language doesn’t seem to particularly lean too strongly towards either dialect and the same can be said about nearly every other aspect of the script. The difficultto-pin-down nature of this story setting-wise is intended as a commentary on similarities between the two points in place and time, but such a theme picks fights with the excellent production work that screams “this is Missouri!” Is Zapple’s approach to the

story disastrously off-base or a stroke of genius? Ultimately, it’s a flimsy excuse to see “A Christmas Carol” with rip-roaring bluegrass music and a stylish twist. Half of all proceeds of the play will benefit the Young Hearts Foundation, a local family charity that raises money in support of the leukemia and lymphoma society. “A Christmas Carol” will be playing Dec. 13 – 15 at 7:30 p.m., with a 2 p.m. showing on Sunday, Dec. 16. at the James Lee Community Center (2855 Annandale Rd. Falls Church). Tickets can be purchased at the door or online.

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FALLS CHURCHCALENDAR COMMUNITYEVENTS THURSDAY, DECEMBER 13 News-Press Holiday Party. The News-Press’ annual Holiday Party. The event will be catered by Anthony’s Restaurant and Geroge Mason High School’s Jazz Ensemble will be providing live music. All are welcome. Center for Spiritual Enlightenment (220 N. Washington St., Falls Church). 5:30 – 8 p.m. Teen Advisory Board. For volunteers in grades 7-12, the Teen Advisory Board (TAB) meets monthly during the school year to give interested teens a voice in the library. Teens who participate in TAB earn volunteer hours. Registration required. Mary Riley Styles Library (120 N. Virginia Ave., Falls Church). 6:30 – 7 p.m.

Middle School Book Club. December Book: “Awkward” by Svetlana Chmakova. Book Club for grades 6-8. Limited copies of the book are available to borrow from the Youth Services Desk. Registration required. Mary Riley Styles Library (120 N. Virginia Ave., Falls Church). 7 – 8 p.m. 703-248-5034.

FRIDAY, DECEMBER 14 Arm Chair Travel: Iceland & Greenland. See the world from the comfort of the Teen Center. Arm Chair Travel held on the second Friday of each month at regular time to watch a video about a different part of the world. No registration required. This program is sponsored by the Falls Church Senior Center and Mary Riley Styles Public Library. Teen Center @ Community Center (223 Little Falls St., Falls Church). 10 – 11 a.m.

SATURDAY, DECEMBER 15 Sing Books with Emily. A singing storytime with illustrated songs. Emily’s repertoire includes hundreds of songs to delight audiences of any age, many enhanced by instruments like guitar, glockenspiel, kazoo, foot tambourines and limberjack. No registration required. Community Center (223 Little Falls St., Falls Church). 11 a.m. – 11:45 a.m. 703-248-5034.

SUNDAY, DECEMBER 16 Town Hall: West Falls Church Project and High School Campus Project. The City Manager and other officials will make a presentation and answer questions on the high school campus project and the West Falls Church Economic Development project. This event will be recorded by FCCTV and posted on the City’s website and YouTube channel.

Senior Center @ Community Center (223 Little Falls St., Falls Church). 2 – 4 p.m.

MONDAY, DECEMBER 17 Preschool Storytime. Stories and fun for ages 0-5. Drop-in. Mary Riley Styles Library (120 N. Virginia Ave., Falls Church). 10:30 – 11 a.m. 703-248-5034. Playtime with Early Literacy Center Toys. Explore educational items. Ages birth to 5 years. No registration required. Mary Riley Styles Library (120 N. Virginia Ave., Falls Church). 11 a.m. – noon. 703-248-5034. ESL Conversation Group. A general conversation group for adults learning English as their second language meets every Monday. Drop-ins. Mary Riley Styles Library (120 N. Virginia Ave., Falls Church). 7 – 8:30 p.m. 703-248-5034.

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FRIDAY, DECEMBER 14 “Billy Elliot.” All 11-year-old Billy wants to do is dance. While the 1984 miners’ strike squeezes his family and splits his town, Billy’s passion for ballet first divides, then ultimately unites, the community—and changes his life in extraordinary ways. Based on the powerful and acclaimed film, “Billy Elliot” swept the Tony, Drama Desk, and Olivier awards for Best Musical, by combining a dynamic score by the legendary Elton John with sensational dance to create a heartwarming, inspirational and triumphant experience for the entire family. Signature Theatre (420 Campbell Ave., Arlington) $40 – $80. 8 p.m. sigtheatre.com.

SATURDAY, DECEMBER 15 “Anything Goes.” Dubbed “musical comedy joy” by The New York Times, this rollicking maritime rom-com follows the adventures of Billy, a young Wall Street broker who falls head over heels

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for a wealthy heiress, and stows away on the ship carrying her to London. All kinds of on-board antics ensue as Billy tries to find, woo and win back his true love, with the help of showgirls, sailors and even a gangster or two. Arena Stage (1101 Sixth St. SW, Washington, D.C.) $92 – $125. 8 p.m. arenastage.org. “A Civil War Christmas.” It’s 1864 and Washington, D.C. is settling down to the coldest Christmas Eve in years. “History lessons and holiday warmth sit cozily alongside each other” (The New York Times) in this pageant of carols by Paula Vogel, the Pulitzer Prizewinning writer of “Indecent.” Stories of many intertwining lives– spanning from the battlegrounds of Northern Virginia to the halls of the White House– demonstrate that the gladness of one’s heart is the best gift of all. 1st Stage Theatre (1524 Spring Hill Rd., Tysons) $39. 8 p.m. 1ststagetysons.org.

SUNDAY, DECEMBER 16 “Madeline’s Christmas.” After sold out runs in 2014 and 2017, the Creative Cauldron is reviving “Madeline’s Christmas” once more for the 2018 holiday season. In this musical adaptation, Madeline’s schoolmates and tutor are all sick in bed on Christmas Eve, unable to go home for Christmas to be with their families. So, it’s Madeline to the rescue. And with the help of a magical rug merchant, she takes her friends on a Christmas journey they will never forget. Creative Cauldron (410 S. Maple Ave., Retail 116, Falls Church) $16 – $26. 2 p.m. creativecauldron.org.

LIVEMUSIC THURSDAY, DECEMBER 13 Randoll Rivers Elvis Show. JV’s Restaurant (6666 Arlington Blvd., Falls Church). 5:30 p.m. 703-2419504. Sean Tracy. Dogwood Tavern (132 W. Broad St., Falls Church). 6:30 p.m. 703-237-8333.Thrillbilly’s. JV’s Restaurant (6666 Arlington

CA L E NDA R

Blvd., Falls Church). 8:30 p.m. 703-241-9504.

DECEMBER 13 – 19, 2018 | PAGE 27

I See Stars (Acoustic) with exits + Better Homes. Jammin’ Java (227 Maple Ave. E, Vienna). $15 – $30. 8 p.m. 703-255-1566. Chatham County Line “Electric Holiday Tour” with Johnny Irion, Jay Brown, & Zeke Hutchins. Miracle Theatre (535 8th St. SE Washington, D.C.). $20. 8 p.m. 703-255-1566.

FRIDAY, DECEMBER 14 19th Street Band. JV’s Restaurant (6666 Arlington Blvd., Falls Church). 8:30 p.m. 703-2419504. Brooke Yoder. Clare and Don’s Beach Shack. (130 North Washington St., Falls Church). 6 p.m. 703-532-9283. Exaggerations. JV’s Restaurant (6666 Arlington Blvd., Falls Church). 6 p.m. 703-241-9504. 70’s Disco & Funk Holiday Party. Jammin’ Java (227 Maple Ave. E, Vienna). $12 – $20. 8 p.m. 703255-1566. $5 Comedy. The State Theatre (220 N Washington St., Falls Church). $5. 9 p.m. 703-2370300. Shartel & Hume. JV’s Restaurant (6666 Arlington Blvd., Falls Church). 9 p.m. 703-241-9504. Cockpit. Dogwood Tavern (132 W. Broad St., Falls Church). 10 p.m. 703-237-8333.

SATURDAY, DECEMBER 15 12th Annual Rocknoceros Holiday Singalong Show (encore performance the following day at 2 p.m. at same price). Jammin’ Java (227 Maple Ave. E, Vienna). $10. 11 a.m. 703-255-1566.

19TH STREET BAND will be at JV’s Restaurant on Friday. (Photo: 19thStreetBand.Com) Church). 4 p.m. 703-241-9504. NRJ Is Coming to Town! Jammin’ Java (227 Maple Ave. E, Vienna). $15. 8 p.m. 703-255-1566. Rockapella Christmas Tour. The State Theatre (220 N Washington St., Falls Church). $30 – $35. 9 p.m. 703-237-0300 Sol Roots & Guests. JV’s Restaurant (6666 Arlington Blvd., Falls Church). 9:30 p.m. 703-2419504. Mountain Fish. Dogwood Tavern (132 W. Broad St., Falls Church). 10 p.m. 703-237-8333.

SUNDAY, DECEMBER 16

Last Minute Holiday Shop. Clare and Don’s Beach Shack. (130 North Washington St., Falls Church). Noon. 703-532-9283.

Bentwood Rockers Bluegrass. JV’s Restaurant (6666 Arlington Blvd., Falls Church). 1 p.m. 703241-9504.

Twisted Mister. JV’s Restaurant (6666 Arlington Blvd., Falls

Front Porch Orchestra’s Bluegrass Nutcracker. Jammin’

Java (227 Maple Ave. E, Vienna). $20 . 2 p.m. 703-255-1566. Josh Allen Holiday Show. JV’s Restaurant (6666 Arlington Blvd., Falls Church). 4 p.m. 703-2419504. His Dream of Lions with Divine By Night + Mercury Avenue. Jammin’ Java (227 Maple Ave. E, Vienna). $10 – $20. 8 p.m. 703255-1566. Dirt Eater, The Mostly Dead. Galaxy Hut (2711 Wilson Blvd., Arlington). $5. 9 p.m.

MONDAY, DECEMBER 17 Wolf Blues Jam Weekly Show Live and In Concert. JV’s Restaurant (6666 Arlington Blvd., Falls Church). 8:30 p.m. 703-2419504. Hobbyist, Han Gan. Galaxy Hut (2711 Wilson Blvd., Arlington). $5. 9 p.m. 703-525-8646.

TUESDAY, DECEMBER 18 Exit 245 with the BluesTones. Jammin’ Java (227 Maple Ave. E, Vienna). $10. 7:30 p.m. 703255-1566. Mark Wenner and the Blues Warriors. JV’s Restaurant (6666 Arlington Blvd., Falls Church). 8:30 p.m. 703-241-9504. Majestic: Weekly Drag Show. Diva Lounge (6763 Wilson Blvd., Falls Church). 10 p.m.

WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 19 Mommy and Me with Dotty Westgate – Music and Movement for babies & toddlers. Famille Cafe (700-A W. Broad St. Falls Church). 10 a.m. 703-570-8669. Open Mic with Vernon Santmyer. JV’s Restaurant (6666 Arlington Blvd., Arlington). 8:30 p.m. 703-522-8340.

Calendar Submissions Email: calendar@fcnp.com | Mail: Falls Church News-Press, Attn: Calendar, 200 Little Falls St., #508, Falls Church, VA 22046

Be sure to include time, location, cost of admission, contact person and any other pertinent information. Event listings will be edited for content and space limitations. Please include any photos or artwork with submissions. Deadline is Monday at noon for the current week’s edition.

PAGE 28 | DECEMBER 13 - 19, 2018

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FALLS CHURCH NEWS-PRESS | FCNP.COM

Crossword

ACROSS

By David Levinson Wilk 1

31 34

39 43

49 55

41 45

58 61

33 37

1. Simplest of choices 5. Eleniak of “Baywatch” 10. Bits of baloney 14. One going before a judge 15. Hurried along 16. It’s just in your head 17. Toy on a string 18. ____ of itself 19. Kind of dancer 20. Good name for an EMT’s autobiography but a terrible encyclopedia volume? 23. “____ House,” 1970 Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young hit 24. Writer Sarah ____ Jewett 25. Inventor’s desire 29. Dr. Evil’s sidekick in Austin Powers movies 31. CNN’s home: Abbr. 32. ____-wop 33. Good name for a U.S. travel book but a terrible encyclopedia volume? 37. One-on-one Olympics event 40. Fashion item you can always find in mid-Manhattan? 41. “If you ask me,” to texters 42. Good name for a history of the U.S. Supreme Court but a terrible encyclopedia volume? 47. Actress Gardner 48. Rock with valuable nuggets 49. Actress Milano of “Charmed” 53. Strip bare 55. ____ mater 57. Extra NBA periods

Across

STRANGE BREW

1. Simplest of choices

DECEMBER 13 – 19, 2018 | PAGE 29

58. Good name for a book on human interaction but a terrible encyclopedia volume? 61. Leave a permanent mark on 64. “Boogie Oogie Oogie” music genre 65. Hershey toffee bar 66. Expert 67. Bread spreads 68. Kind of torch on “Survivor” 69. Texter’s “Alternatively ...” 70. Writer Zora ____ Hurston 71. Lacking width and depth

DOWN

1. Bit of parental buck-passing 2. “Certainly, Monsieur!” 3. Investor’s desire 4. “Rock of Love” star Michaels 5. Neighbor of Djibouti 6. Wouldn’t shut up 7. Meaning of Caesar’s “Veni” 8. Vegas numbers game 9. Total 10. It may involve dukes 11. Reply at the altar 12. Plead 13. ____ Paulo, Brazil 21. ____ sapiens 22. Anti-rash powder 26. Answer to the riddle “What cheese is made backward?” 27. Snack (on) 28. Dorothy’s dog 30. Frozen drink brand 31. Lead-in to girl or boy 34. Wedge or pump

JOHN DEERING

Sudoku

35. Identify on Facebook 36. Like unwashed hair 37. “Zounds!” 38. Smooth, in a way 39. Actress ____ Rachel Wood 43. Miner’s strike 44. Trample 45. “Get lost!” 46. “In the Valley of ____” (2007 film) 50. Absorb thoroughly 51. Backhand or forehand, e.g. 52. Pippi Longstocking creator Lindgren 54. “Ri-i-i-ight ...” 55. Perplexed 56. Rank above maj. 59. Vex 60. This, in Tijuana 61. Freudian area of study 62. King who died in his late teens 63. ____-Magnon man Last Thursday’s Solution A N S A R I

T O U C A N

H I G H S C H O O L S

O M E S E S A R P L L O O P S O O M A R S H C K E Y N E E P E W E L E A R A L O T E A M B U I L D C E R O S I V N I N E P I

C A R M S L I P U M F A S E A W A H A B R O R Y R E F E E S N E D S E E K F C H A R A E A L N G A

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N A O N R Y W A X E S P O E T I C

A H C H T S E L O R E N A

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By The Mepham Group

Level 1 2 3 4

5. Eleniak of "Baywatch" 10. Bits of baloney 14. One going before a judge 15. Hurried along 16. It's just in your head 17. Toy on a string 18. ____ of itself 19. Kind of dancer

20. Good name for an EMT's autobiography but a terrible encyclopedia volume? 23. "____ House," 1970 Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young hit 24. Writer Sarah ____ Jewett 25. Inventor's desire 29. Dr. Evil's sidekick in Austin Powers movies

NICK KNACK

Solution to last Sunday’s puzzle

12/9/18

Complete the grid so each row, column and 3-by-3 box (in bold borders) contains every digit 1 to 9. For strategies on how to solve Sudoku, visit sudoku.org.uk. © 2018 The Mepham Group. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency. All rights reserved.

LO CA L

PAGE 30 | DECMEBER 13 – 19, 2018

dog. lazy ick qu The fox sly p e d j u m the over dog. lazy is the Now for all time cows good co me to aid to the the ir of t u r e . pas

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is the Now for all time cows good co me to aid to the the ir of t u r e . p a s is the Now for all time cows good me to to coaid of the their.

BACK IN THE DAY

20 & 10 Years Ago in the News-Press

Falls Church News-Press Vol. VIII, No. 40 • December 17, 1998

Developer Declares He’s Eager To Build on Anderson Tract The glee being felt around official Falls Church circles this week has to do with more than the spirit of the holiday season. City Council members and economic development specialists have been thrilled to report to anyone who cares the news that a real estate developer has expressed interest in acquiring one of the long-vacant properties in the City’s downtown areas. Rocky Gorge Enterprises has shown its desire to move ahead with plans to put a mixed use development downtown.

Budget Guidance Continued from Page 1

There is also a growing nervousness expressed by the Council on the ability of growth in the wider economy to support the modest growth projections for the City. Chief Financial Officer Kiran Bawa and at least one Council member, Ross Litkenhous, have sounded cautionary notes about a new recessionary cycle hitting the national and global economies, throwing some cold water on the optimism generated by Amazon’s announcement of the location of its HQ2 campus, with its projected 25,000 new well-paying jobs just a few miles down the road in Crystal City. Other Northern Virginia jurisdictions are also expecting the same level of low growth in their coming periods, as well. One of the biggest constraints on the budget will be the anticipated $400,000 bill due to WMATA, much higher than the City was counting on, according to F.C. City Manager Wyatt Shields. “This number has come as a big surprise to us,” Shields told the Council. It was promised that growth in their request would be limited to three percent, but this is an 11.5 percent increase and will add the equivalent of a full penny on the real estate tax rate. As a result, it will have a serious impact on our educational system and general government, both.” Other expense drivers in the City operating budget include $200,000 for health insurance, a

It is now the time fo r all good to go cows to aid of the p a s their ture . * * * Throw * * Pour it up. it up

Falls Church News-Press Vol. XVIII, No. 42 • December 18, 2008

FALLS CHURCH NEWS-PRESS | FCNP.COM

Critter Corner 10 Year s Ago

It is now the time fo r all good to go cows to aid of the the ir pas ture . * * * Throw * * Pour it up. it up

‘Nu Era’ Tops Entertainment At F.C. Watch Night Dec. 31

A star-studded lineup of live entertainment has been been assembled for the 11th annual New Year’s Eve party on the streets of downtown Falls Church on Dec. 31. As always, the free, family-oriented event is being organized entirely by local volunteers, with the help from businesses located in and around the block of W. Broad St. between Washington St. and Maple Ave., which will be closed off to traffic starting at 6 p.m. and continuing that way for the rest of the night.

one-percent salary increase for all City employees at $200,000 and added costs for the retirement fund, fire station upgrades and the Community Services Board (CSB) yet to be determined. Last year, the real estate tax rate was increased by 2.5 cents (per $100 of assessed valuation) to $1.355. The rate has increased by 8.5 cents since 2011, and combined with modest real estate assessment growth over that time frame, the average tax bill for a City residence (the average home being valued at $676,000) has grown from $6,600 to $9,100. The Council is expected to have in its hands the new annual real estate assessments by the end of January. F.C. Vice Mayor Marybeth Connelly, who chairs the Council’s Budget Finance Committee, said she was “disappointed” that after years of trying, there is still no revenue sharing agreement between the Council and School Board that would eliminate a lot of budget tensions. But Councilman Phil Duncan noted that while such an agreement would be helpful, it would not automatically prevent the inevitable knocking of heads over competing funding needs. Councilman David Snyder said that “over the years, starting with budget guidance has worked.” He said that while he will support school funding, as he has in the past, “to start with a constrained guidance and building from there” has worked. Council member Letty Hardi reiterated her preference for

including $200,000 in the budget for traffic calming, and she also expressed concern for cuts in funding from the state for the CSB. Shields intimated that he’ll be proposing a cost-of-living salary adjustment because the City was shocked by the loss of at least three highly qualified employees due to better salary offers from neighboring jurisdictions. Shields told the Council that work on a sidewalk “missing link” on N. Virginia Ave. will be completed by the end of January. It will be for a five-foot width, handled as a “spot” improvement not needing an engineering study and that there are a number of other “missing link” sidewalk needs around the City that will be addressed similarly. He said a joint infrastructure development team is being gathered to study the issues of a structured parking lot in the planned “good neighbor” zone between the new high school and economic development portion of the school site. If the decision is to go ahead with the lot, the EYA, PN Hoffman and Regency group will pay the City an extra $5.3 million to build it for shared use by the school and the adjacent businesses and residences in the 10.3 acre portion. Shields reminded the Council of the ninth in the series of public Sunday Series forums on the West End project this Sunday, Dec. 16, at 2 p.m. at the Community Center. Representatives of the economic development plan will be there to lay out their plans to date.

CATS, MAN. They do the weirdest things. Like the Al Qhatani family’s cat [name not given] seen here, who’s perched on top of a step ladder for whatever reason. Weird. But hey, it’s a good looking cat so it can pull it off. Just because you’re not famous doesn’t mean your pet can’t be! Send in your Critter Corner submissions to crittercorner@fcnp.com.

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DECEMBER 13 - 19, 2018 | PAGE 31

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PEOPLE IN THE NATION. DO YOU? The City of Falls Church: #1 Healthiest Community in America, 2018 U.S. News & World Report #2 Richest County in America, 2017 Forbes 80%+ F.C. residents 25 years+ with Bachelor’s Degrees or Higher, U.S. Census Bureau Also... #1 Best County in the U.S. to Live In, 2018 USA TODAY #1 Fastest Growing County in America, U.S. Census Bureau #1 Tradi�onal High School in Virginia (George Mason H.S.), 2018 U.S. News & World Report

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